Construction cranes rise above the trees at the site of Exxon Mobil Corporation's campus Wednesday, June 6, 2012, near The Woodlands. The 385-acre tract is being developed, near I-45 and the Hardy Toll Road, as the energy corporation's new corporate campus. The development will include multiple low-rise office buildings; lab, conference and training centers; a child care facility; and a wellness center. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle )

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Fuel Fix

Keep track of the ins and outs of the energy business at fuelfix.com, the Houston Chronicle's site for the latest energy-related news.

After the bust of the 1980s, Houston's leaders swore they had learned their lesson: No more depending so heavily on oil.

Flash forward 35 years. The region's economy has diversified - almost 100,000 people work in the Texas Medical Center and tens of thousands more work in schools, finance and technology.

But energy still makes up almost half of the local economy.

That's down from 87 percent in the mid-1980s, but Houston isn't called the energy capital for nothing.

All the major oil and gas companies have operations here, even if some - including Exxon Mobil Corp. - are headquartered elsewhere. Exxon recently announced plans to build a campus south of The Woodlands, boosting real estate values and starting a construction boom.

About half of the nation's refining capacity is located along the Gulf Coast, much of it spread between Freeport and Baytown. Petrochemical plants line the Houston Ship Channel.

"We have diversified," says Patrick Jankowski, vice president of research for the Greater Houston Partnership. "One thing people miss is in the '80s, we were a blue-collar energy town. We had people who could work a lathe, work drill pipe. Now what's going on in Houston is the decision on where to drill. The contracts with Venezuela or Indonesia or Russia are being negotiated here. We're a white-collar, energy-logistics town."

That provided stability and limited layoffs during the recession, he said.

Although Houston's economy dipped in 2009 along with the rest of the nation, it recovered more quickly, led by the energy industry.

Employment in the oil and gas sector grew by double-digits last year, Jankowski said. That's slowed to about 6 percent, but more than one-fourth of all U.S. jobs in oil and gas extraction are in the Houston area.

The metro area has twice as many engineers in its workforce as the national average - more than 18 times as many petroleum engineers.

And the pay is good: Jankowski notes that the average weekly wage in the oil and gas extraction sector is $3,407, while it is $2,104 in the mining support activities sector.

Houston's economy clearly has other things going for it.

"Health care remains steady," Jankowski says. "Our ports remain strong. But oil and gas is still a good business to be in."

After the bust of the 1980s, Houston's leaders swore they had learned their lesson: No more depending so heavily on oil.

Flash forward 35 years. The region's economy has diversified - almost 100,000 people work in the Texas Medical Center and tens of thousands more work in schools, finance and technology.

But energy still makes up almost half of the local economy.

That's down from 87 percent in the mid-1980s, but Houston isn't called the energy capital for nothing.

All the major oil and gas companies have operations here, even if some - including Exxon Mobil Corp. - are headquartered elsewhere. Exxon recently announced plans to build a campus south of The Woodlands, boosting real estate values and starting a construction boom.

About half of the nation's refining capacity is located along the Gulf Coast, much of it spread between Freeport and Baytown. Petrochemical plants line the Houston Ship Channel.

"We have diversified," says Patrick Jankowski, vice president of research for the Greater Houston Partnership. "One thing people miss is in the '80s, we were a blue-collar energy town. We had people who could work a lathe, work drill pipe. Now what's going on in Houston is the decision on where to drill. The contracts with Venezuela or Indonesia or Russia are being negotiated here. We're a white-collar, energy-logistics town."

That provided stability and limited layoffs during the recession, he said.

Although Houston's economy dipped in 2009 along with the rest of the nation, it recovered more quickly, led by the energy industry.

Employment in the oil and gas sector grew by double-digits last year, Jankowski said. That's slowed to about 6 percent, but more than one-fourth of all U.S. jobs in oil and gas extraction are in the Houston area.

The metro area has twice as many engineers in its workforce as the national average - more than 18 times as many petroleum engineers.

And the pay is good: Jankowski notes that the average weekly wage in the oil and gas extraction sector is $3,407, while it is $2,104 in the mining support activities sector.

Houston's economy clearly has other things going for it.

"Health care remains steady," Jankowski says. "Our ports remain strong. But oil and gas is still a good business to be in."